NewDad talk us through the lyrical inspirations of their debut album MADRA, out now.
Angel is about feeling like a burden in a relationship. About how you can feel like you don’t deserve someone so wonderful when you’re such a mess, and how when you’re low you feel like you’re bringing your partner down with you. I was initially inspired by the relationship between Rue and Jules on euphoria, and felt drawn to write about it.
Sickly Sweet is about wanting someone even though they’re bad for you and it’s blatantly obvious. It’s about how sometimes boredom can lead you to entertain something (or someone) even if it’s detrimental just because of the excitement that comes with it. Basically about coming back for more even when it’s bad news.
Where I Go is inspired by the feeling of people chipping away at you until you’ve got nothing left. I, like a lot of people, had people take advantage of me and bully me and lie about me and it left me a bit melted. I always wanted to see the best in people and that got me into a few shit situations. It’s about how that stuff stays with you and how people can be crap, basically.
Change My Mind is about repeating unhealthy patterns in a relationship. “Your eyes they look like mine” means making someone feel as shit as you do because you’re mentally in a bad place. It’s kind of remorseful, I guess.
Nosebleed is about being fed up with someone. It’s about that feeling when someone can make you feel so small, but then is also there for you; “you’re always talking down to me, but then you’d bandage my knees, never knew quite how you’d be”. It’s about how weary you grow in those situations and how it can be hard to let go of someone even if you despise them in the end.
Let Go is kinda like a conversation between two people, one of them depressed and the other trying to look after them. It’s about that feeling when someone wishes they could take your pain away and they want to understand, but they just can’t. It’s not easy to just let go of things and be okay. Dream Of Me is about not being able to forget about someone and constantly being reminded of them no matter where you are or what you’re doing (even in ur sleep just a simple lil song about not being able to let go of someone even though you know they’ve already let go of you, think everyone has experienced that at some point
Nightmares is about wishing you hated someone, because loving them is too hard. “I wish you were the monster under my bed and not the one I want in it”. It’s about not wanting to fall for someone because you know it’d never work, Basically just wishing you despised them instead of them being everything to you.
White Ribbons is about how no matter how much shit you put your body through, it always fixes itself and how that’s a very beautiful thing it does for us. The White Ribbons are my skin that always heal the wounds. It’s like a promise to my body that I will look after it;“I promise to take care until the end, cause there were times when you were my only friend.”
Madra is about the highs and lows you go through when you’re depressed. It’s about how sometimes, self-medicating with drink or whatever it is, is the only thing that can make you feel anything. It’s about the joy/pain/numbness it can make you feel. It’s also about feeling bad that no one can help you, even the kind people who try so hard to make you happy, sometimes it’s only self medicating that can make you feel something instead of just feeling nothing.
If you're affected by the themes of this piece Samaritans provide telephone support any time on 116 123 in the UK.
